Tritium may not be the most dangerous yet, Japan's first batch of nuclear contaminated water discharge plans have been announced! Out of 64 nuclear radioactive elements in nuclear contaminated water, 7800 tons of Fukushima | ocean | emissions

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on the 22nd local time, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced at a meeting of relevant officials on the 22nd that he will start discharging contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean from the 24th. Tokyo Electric Power Company announced the detailed steps for discharging into the ocean on the 22nd. According to the plan, a large amount of seawater will be added to the treated water before discharge. If the concentration is confirmed to have decreased to the expected level, the first batch of 7800 tons of nuclear contaminated water will be discharged within 17 days. The estimated emissions for 2023 are about 31200 tons, with a total tritium amount of 5 trillion becquerels, which is about 20% of the upper limit of TEPCO's annual planned emissions.

Nuclear contaminated water being discharged into the sea, an unstoppable "madness"?

A shameful moment!

Abandoning previous commitments made to Fukushima fishermen and ignoring domestic and international objections, the Japanese government announced the launch of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water discharge into the sea on the 24th. In front of the Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo, some Japanese citizens are still expressing strong dissatisfaction with this decision.

The second blow that Japan's fishing industry cannot afford

Dong Qian: In the face of strong opposition from Japanese fishing industry practitioners, has the Japanese government responded now?

CCTV reporter Li Weibing: Currently, the Japanese government has not responded specifically to this issue, but we can see that the determination of Japanese fishery practitioners to oppose the Japanese government's discharge into the sea is very firm and unwavering. On the 22nd, Yasushin Sakamoto, President of the National Fisheries Association of Japan, issued a statement opposing emissions without the understanding of fishermen and citizens. This position has not changed in the slightest and strongly urges the Japanese government to fulfill its commitments. In addition, Haruhiko Terazawa, the president of the Miyagi Prefecture Fisheries Association in Japan, expressed dissatisfaction, stating that fishermen and other fishing professionals have not made progress in understanding the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea as the Japanese government has claimed. On the contrary, the prices of seafood such as abalone and scallops continue to decline, and there has been actual damage caused by the problem of nuclear contaminated water being discharged into the sea. In addition to organizations such as the Fisheries Association, fishing industry professionals specifically engaged in seafood processing, sales, and transportation have also opposed the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea. They have persisted for more than ten years and have finally made some progress, but now they are going to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea. This kind of blow makes them feel that the future will be endless darkness.

Irresponsible, Japan insists on promoting the plan to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea

On the 22nd, after the Japanese government announced the launch of the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water discharge into the sea on the 24th, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again expressed the Chinese government's attitude: "Japan's strong promotion of nuclear contaminated water discharge into the sea is unfair, unreasonable, and unnecessary." Subsequently, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Macao Special Administrative Region government respectively took action to restrict the import of aquatic products from some cities and counties in Japan.

In fact, since the Japanese government decided to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea on April 13, 2021, the international community's questioning and opposition have never stopped. Even some experts and scholars in Japan have repeatedly raised doubts and objections, but the Japanese government has not made any responsible response so far.

Japan's nuclear contaminated water discharge into the sea will last for at least 30 years

The biggest danger is not just tritium

Gao Zhiguo, President of the Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea and former judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: From the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan in 2011 to Japan's decision to discharge it into the sea in 2021, the amount of nuclear contaminated water has accumulated to approximately 1.38 million tons, with an annual increase of about 100 tons. Its over 1100 water storage tanks are expected to have almost no storage space by this year. Because Japan has never disclosed real data, I estimate that there are currently approximately 1.5 million tons of nuclear contaminated water, and the discharge time may be as long as 30 to 50 years. The biggest concern of the international community, including neighboring countries and stakeholders, is that these nuclear radioactive elements and substances enter the marine environment. Japan has always been misleading that the problem lies only in tritium, but many scientists around the world have a consensus that nuclear contaminated water contains up to 64 types of radioactive elements, and more than 70% of them exceed the standard, which is difficult to completely remove with multi nuclide equipment.

After these radioactive elements enter the marine environment and ecology, tritium may not be the most dangerous. The most harmful substances to humans and marine life are carbon-14 and iodine-129. The half-life of carbon-14 is about 5370 years, while the half-life of iodine-129 is longer, about 15.7 million years. Carbon-14 accumulates in marine organisms, such as fish, and its abundance or concentration may be 50 times higher than tritium.